Shank stiitener



F. G. 'DELBON.

SHANK STIFFENER.

APPLICATION FILED Nov. 16. 1921.

1,432,160, Patented Oct. 17,1922.

20 9 A? T "m T- I I I 20 /9 INVENTOR /.9 fkq/wr 6f 5450 ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 17, 1922.

UNITED STATES FRANK G. DELBON, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SHANK STIFFENER.

Application filed November 16, 1921. Serial No. 515,476.

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK G. DELBON, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Shank Stitfeners, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to shank-stiffeners for shoes, boots and the like, and it consists in a shank-stiffener of the novel construction hereinafter described and claimed.

The shank-stiifener of the present application embodies certain improvements on the shank-stiffeners described in Letters Patent granted to me December 24, 1907, and numbered, respectively, 874,396 and 874,884.

The shank-stiffener made the subject of this application possesses all the advantages of the shank-stifi'eners disclosed in the aforesaid Letters Patent, and in addition certain further advantages in that my new shankstiifener affords increased comfort to the wearer and is better adapted to the last on which the shoe is made, thereby facilitating the manufacture of shoes. 1 v

The shank'stiffener is formed from one integral piece of sheet steel and is of special outline and construction adapting the stiffener to efficiently support the plantar arch of the foot in a manner affording great cornfort to the wearer and to yield to irregularity of pressures which may be brought against it. The body portion of my shank stiffener has been specially designed to meet the requirements of the anatomical structure of the human foot and with due regard to the pressures brought against the tarsal and metatarsal bones of the foot during walking, and to these ends I form the body portion of my shank-stiffener with three longitudinal sections slit therein and disposed to form a lower substantially central longitudinally ribbed section merging atits ends into the end portions of the shanktiffener and two opposite side sections displaced inwardly to overlap said central section and therewith afford a concave seat for the ligaments of the foot thereat, said three sections also consti- V tuting a novel yielding support for the arch of the foot and providing at the lower side of the shank-stiffener a proper longitudinalridgefor producing a desirable finish in the shank portion of a shoe.

The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

F ig. 1 is a plan view of a metal blank which I first form in manufacturing my shankstiifeners and from which the shankstiffener, without further cutting of the metal, is produced by means of suitable forming dies;

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of the shankstiffener of my invention;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the same, and

Fig. 5 is a. cross-section of the same on the dotted line 55 of Fig. 3. 1

In the drawings, 10 designates the shank stiffener as a whole, and this stiffener, as shown in Fig. 4:, arches upwardly and rearwardly from the forward end 11 toward the heel end 12 thereof to conform to the shape desired for the arch or shank portion of a shoe. In length the shanlestiffener will extend from above the heel to the rear end of the tread of the sole of the shoe.

At its heel-end the shank-stiffener has rearwardly converging side edges, and along its middle portion the shank-stiffener has inwardly curved side edges 13, while at its forward end the shank-stiffener has the very beneficial formation described in my aforesaid LettersPatent-, to wit: the table section 14 of approximately triangular outline defined at its inner edges at the bend-lines 15 diverging from a point 16, which represents the forward end of the shank portion of the shank-stiffener and is formed at the forward terminal of a downwardly projecting rib 17 which extends lengthwise of the shank-stiifener and is formed by pressing the metal downwardly to produce said rib or ridge 17.

The shank-stitfeners are made in rights and lefts for pairs of shoes, Fig. 3 showing a a shank-stiffener for a left shoe, and Fig. 2

in outline showing the edge outline of a shank-stiffener for a right shoe.

One of the main features of my present invention resides in the novel'construction of the shank or body portion of the shank-stiffener, and this portion comprises a central longitudinal section 18 and two side longitudinal sections 19, which, intermediate their ends, curve inwardly toward eachother and over upon the middle section 19, as shown in Fig. 3.

The sections 18, 19 are primarily formed by slitting the metal blank shown in F g. 1,

longitudinally at 2,0, 20 to form three sub stantially co-equal divisions, the middle one for the section 19 and the two side ones for the sections 18.

The slits 20 start slightly to the rear of the forward table 14 and finish at the upper end of the forwardly arched portion of the stiffener, as shown.

By means of acombination die and forming machine,the blank has the table 14 formed at its forward end and its side portions at each side of its longitudinal center bent down wardly into somewhat V-outline in crosssection to form the ridge 17 and generally shape the stiffener rearwardly of the table 14, and on this same machine the middle section 18 is then bent downwardly and the side sections 18 are crowded edgewise inwardly toward eachother and over the then depressed section 18 to such extent as may be desired, after which the section 18 is moved up against the sections 19 and the finishing of the arching and details of the shankstifiener is performed.

The middle section 18 in the finished article, between the slits 20, is approximately in cross-section in the outline of a shallow.

v', as shown in Fig. 5, and the side sections 19 lap upon the section 18 but extend outwardly beyond the same and gradually curve inwardly and downwardly against the upper side portions of said section 18 thereby form ing a shallow longitudinal seat, at tor the plantar ligaments of the foot. The upper outer portions of the sections 19 are almost flat so as to avoid abruptness in the seat 21 and to adapt the structure to the inner shoe-sole and to the last. The inner side portions of the sections 19, by lapping upon the middle section 18, avoid what would otherwise be a deep and abrupt longitudinal depression in the body of the shank-stiiiiener and provide a proper seat or hearing for the last and, in the shoe, for the arch of the foot.

The sections 18, 19 arranged. as shown also provide a support which permits a downwardly yielding of the stiffener entirely across the same when necessary, and at the same time allows either side section to yield downwardly, backed by the section 18, in accordance with the direction of the pressure exerted. and the anatomical. construction of the foot or the habit 0i the wearer in walking.

The sections 19 due to their displacement inwardly over the section 18, become curved at their oppositeedges, their outer edges becoming concavely curved, as at 13, and their inner. edges, convcxly curved as shown. by full lines in F 3, and by dotted lines in Fig; 2.

w The shank-stiffener constructed as herein- .described ail'ords special advantages :for the arch portion of a foot and is adapted to situations to be met in the conditionott the foot, whether normal or weakened, and in the walking habits of the wearers of the shoes.

What I claim as my invention. and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A shoe shank-stiffener of the character described having at its forward end a broadened sec-tion adapted to the rear end oi the tread portion of a shoe and in its body poi" tion downwardly converging sides, said body-portion having a middle longitudinal section and side sections displaced inwardly toward each other beyond the outer side edges of said middle section, the whole being in one integral piece of sheet metal slit to provide said middle. and side sections.

2. A shoe shank-stiffener of the character described having at its forward end a bro-adened section adapted to the rear end of the tread portion of a shoe and in its body po r tion downwardly converging sides, said bodyportion having a middle longitud nal section affording at its bottom a longitudinal oownwardly projecting ridge and side sections displaced inwardly toward each other and overlapping the outer side edges of said middle section and therewith forming a shallow longitudinal recess, the whole being in one integral piece oi sheet metal slit to provide said middle and side sections.

3. A shoe shank-stitlener of the character described having at its forward end broadened section adapted to the rear end of the tread portion of a shr e and in its body portion downwardly converging sides, said body portion having a middle longitudinal section and side sections which curve inwardly toward each other beyond the outer side edges of sail middle section, said side sections being concavely curved at their outer edges and conve-Xly curved at their inner facing side ed" integral piece ot sheet metal slit to proride said middle and side sections.

i. A shoe shank-stiffener of the character described having at its forward end a laterally extending table portion defined at its inner edges by diverging angular lines dei'iot ng the 'torward end of the body of the shank-stiffener and in its body portion downand the whole being in one wardly converging sides and a longitudinal downwardly irojecting ridge extending from the vertex of said angular lines to the heel 

